As Bernard Hopkins tells it, he and trainer Naazim Richardson were a team for so long that they barely needed words to express their thoughts to each other. “We had a connection without even talking. Me and Naazim been around each other so much that when he would nod his head at me I knew what he meant,” Hopkins told BoxingScene.com as he reflected on the untimely recent death of his cornerman. “When he’s talking it sounded like he was mumbling but to me it’s clear English.”
Travis Kauffman could hear Naazim Richardson’s raspy voice in his head when he became emotional while training Friday in Houston. Kauffman couldn’t help but break down at times the day he learned his longtime trainer had died. The veteran heavyweight knew, though, that Richardson would’ve told him to quit crying, pull himself together and re-focus on training for his fight against Otto Wallin on August 15.
Naazim Richardson, a respected longtime trainer from Philadelphia, has died. The Boxing Writers Association of America confirmed Richardson’s death Friday morning. Richardson, a devout Muslim who answered to “Brother Naazim,” is most known for training legends Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley. He also worked with former cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham and his nephew, lightweight Karl Dargan, who like Hopkins, are Philadelphia natives.
Veteran trainer Naazim Richardson is going to receive from criticism, after stating that he believes WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder might be the hardest punching heavyweight in history. Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) has knocked out every opponent that he ever faced in the ring.
As host, Ward brings his undefeated record and undisputed boxing expertise to The Contender. Throughout his incredible 13-year undefeated career, he’s held multiple world titles in two weight classes including, unified WBA (Super), WBC, Ring magazine, and lineal super middleweight titles between 2009 and 2015 as well as the unified WBA (Undisputed), IBF, WBO, and Ring’s light heavyweight titles between 2016 and 2017. Ward also won the gold medal in the light heavyweight division in the 2004 Summer Olympics.
According to veteran trainer Naazim Richardson, he warned former world champion Bernard Hopkins about the possibility of suffering a vicious knockout loss. After Hopkins suffered a one-sided twelve round decision loss to Sergey Kovalev in their 2014 unification, Richardson had advised Hopkins to walk away from the sport. Hopkins, who was nearly 52-years-old, returned after more than two years of inactivity to face dangerous light heavyweight puncher Joe Smith last December.
Future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins (55-7-2) will enter the squared circle as a professional fighter tonight at The Forum in Los Angeles, Calif. against Joe Smith (22-1). The fight will headline an HBO triple-header.
Naazim Richardson Video Interview - A Los Angeles-area fighter caused controversy Friday in Omaha, Nebraska, but there wasn’t any drama on the scales in Los Angeles. All four fighters made weight for the two championship fights Showtime is scheduled to televise Saturday night from USC’s Galen Center.
Former middleweight and light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (55-7-2, 32KOs) turns 51-years-old on January 15th. He's been inactive since losing a twelve round decision in his unification with Sergey Kovalev in November of 2014.